At the time I began trying to find Happy Heim for my uncle, I had already seen PBS' American Experiencedocumentary called The Orphan Trains.

At the time I watched the PBS broadcast, I wondered if I would ever encounter someone in my family tree who rode an Orphan Train.

Now, I'm waiting to see who the next one will be.There's a lot of information on the internet about Orphan Trains. Personally, from my own research, I think the Wiki article is the least accurate, because Arkansas is hardly the midwest United States.

In a series of news articles in 1912 issues of the Springdale News, outreach was conducted to get families to show up and meet the trains.

Friday, February 9, 1912...Homes for nine orphan children brought to Rogers Friday by agents of the Childrens Aid Society of New York were found so quickly and there were so many applicants disappointed that another company of the little folks was arranged for by telegram that night and will arrive here by next Friday...Hundreds of people visited the hotel during the morning to see the children who stood the embarrassing ordeal much better than could be expected...

I've seen quite a few statements on the internet that say it's largely a myth that siblings were split up.

no subject

Didn't his house burn down later in his life in Illinois or Indiana? If he had any family information it is probably lost to history now. He did pretty good in life considering how sad and lonely it must have been a lot of the time. Good post.

no subject

The stories various kids told are all over the map. Some said they had homes they could never even have dreamed of - that they were welcomed with open arms. Some talked of abuse and some ran away...

I don't know what happened to the kids in these news articles. I wanted to get their names transcribed, along with the names and locations of the adoptive parents, in case someone is looking for them, and Google searches would be able to find this post.

no subject

My friend's mom was lucky --- she was taken in by a good, loving family whose ramified branches still call her their own long after her adoptive parents have died. But I know some of the kids found hell on earth.

Orphan trains

I haven't run into one of these in my tree yet, but I think that it's so heartbreaking that they didn't keep the siblings together. I wonder if they grew up with strong relationships with one another eve though they were in different families. I hope that their adoptive parents made an effort to let them visit often.
Jennifer
www.ClimbingMyFamilyTree.com